God's Away On Business
by Colours Doyle
Summary: Death comes in many forms, whether it be expected after a diagnosis of terminal illness or an unexpected accident or medical condition. That moment before death, those moments, anything is plausible. Matt/OC/friendship Jonah/OC/romance.
1. Loosing My Religion

A Haunting in Connecticut story.  
_God's Away On Business_

Disclaimer: I do not and have not owned or stated I've owned anything involving the Haunting in Connecticut, and it shall stay that way. Even though I wish it didn't. I do not own the songs, "God's Away On Business" by the wonderful Tom Waits, "Funny The Way It Is" by the Dave Matthews Band, "Find My Baby" by Moby (mmm...moby..), or the song "Loosing My Religion" by R.E.M. Thanks!

Chapter One: Loosing My Religion  
Rating: **T**for suggestive language.

* * *

"Okay, first, lets just start with the simple questions; What's your name and how old are you?" A camera panned over to a young girl with chocolate brown hair and eyes to match.

"My name is Ark Edison, and I'm 21." You could hear a hint of Britain ancestry in her soft, calm voice.

"Alright," stated the young man behind the camera. "Now, you lived in the old Aickman house with the Campbell's, correct?" She nodded her head. "Now, you are of no relation to the Campbell family whatsoever, so how did you end up living with them?"

Ark shifted in her seat, thinking of the right thing to say to answer this question.

"Well...what it basically comes down to is that...Matt Campbell and me were...really good friends."

"Oh? And how did you both end up that way?"

Ark sat there for a moment in silence.

"I'll just start at the beginning?"

The man nodded excitedly, about ready to hang onto her every word.

"Growing up, I didn't have to best of lives. My parents were great, don't get me wrong, but they died when I was fifteen. Nobody knew how they died, it was a freak accident that their car just randomly swerved off the road. But I knew, I knew all along that they were going to get my parents, it was only a matter of time."

The director looked at her questionably, "Who were going to get your parents, Ark?"

"Them. The ghosts. The ghouls, whatever they were, nobody could see them except me...i-it was because I was sick. I had Fatal Familial Insomnia, which ultimately leads to death about 7 to 36 months after symptoms begin. But within that time when you are diagnosed and when you die, it's like you're just mingling along that line between life and death. But when you're just a dead little girl and you can see all these dead little people around you...it's like, I can't even explain it. It drives you insane. And I was, I knew I was after my parents had died.

"I ran away, all across the US, I got into drugs and drinking...anything that would make them go away, but it only made me more vulnerableto them. So I got out of all that shit within a week, that's when I was in Ohio. I made my way to New York a few weeks after that. I had found it easier to ignore the ghosts after I found a few good friends and an actual boyfriend. I felt happy there, like nothing was the matter. Of course, I still saw them everywhere I went, but they didn't bother me. I think they drove me to do those things because I had tempted them by yelling and screaming at them.

"But there, I felt safe, like something was watching over me. I knew someone was watching over me and it wasn't God, I knew that. But days soon turned to weeks, and I was again starting to feel the pressure of the insomnia, and my behavior was reflecting on the ones I loved, or at least, I thought I loved..."

* * *

Ark sat at the edge of her window, reading one of her favorite books, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. It was a children's book, but she's loved it since she was once a child herself. Her mother had read it to her before she went to sleep. But that was when she could still sleep, and when her mother was still alive.

Thinking of her parents brought tears to Ark's eyes, so she barely thought of them ever. She hated crying.

She absentmindedly sipped at her coffee cup as she read about Lucy and Mr. Tumnus. Her eyes lit up every time she reached this chapter; it was her favorite. But her mind was brought from the wonderful world of Narnia by her cell phone ringing from across the room.

"Standing on a bridge, watch the water passing underneath,  
It must have been much harder when there was no bridge, just water  
Now the world is small, compared to how it used to be  
With mountains and oceans and winters and rivers and star-"

"Hey baby." Ark answered, flashing her pearly whites.

"Ark?" She noticed her boyfriend's voice was sickly slurred, he was drunk. She inwardly sighed.

"What's wrong, Nikki?" She asked worriedly.

"Fuck it," she heard Nikki say to himself, and then heard people in the background cheering like drunken sailors. "Ark, I need to talk to you."

"...okay." Her voice was careful and she hung on his every word.

She heard the cheering fade and then Nikki started to speak once again, "You're a whore."

Ark double took herself for a second, had he meant her?

"W-what?"

"You heard me, you're a whore, you slut, I don't want to do this anymore." Tears ran down her face. "You're crazy, Ark. Are you listening to me? You're insane. I can't be with someone like that."

More tears ran down her face silently, she made no movement. "...fine." She told him, muttering up her voice and she hoped it sounded the least bit strong.

Ark heard him hang up and she slowly pulled the phone down and sat on the edge of her bed.

More tears fell down her cheeks as she sobbed. Ark felt a presence next her and she only expected it be one of them. She gripped her phone tight in her hands, holding in her anger.

"It's all your fault, you fucking ghosts, it's all you fault!" A shadow appeared on the wall in front of her. The anger pursed through her in beats of sweat and she threw her phone to the wall and it shattered in pieces as it disappeared.

Whispers all around her, she clutched her ears with her hands. A pressure on her shoulders drew her to the ground and she whimpered with her face in the carpet. Ark crawled over to her stereo and but a CD in, turning it up all the way to drown out the voices.

"I'm gone find my baby  
Whoah  
Before that sun goes down."

The stanza played over and over again until she heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Leave this place Ark!"

Ark had never heard this voice, she had heard all the other voices before. They were previous tenants that had died in her apartment. But this was no previous tenant. It was a young male voice and he sounded urgent.

"Leave this place now!" She heard from the voice again. Ark slammed her hand on several buttons, hoping to catch the 'stop' button.

Silence filled her apartment and then the voices started up again louder and louder, but she only heard the boy's voice telling her to leave over and over again.

_Knock, knock, knock, knock._

The voices stopped, even the boy's, and Ark ran to answer the obnoxious knocking. She ripped open the door to reveal a short and stout Chinese woman in an off-pink, dirty bath robe with a scowl upon her brow. The ever-so-cheerful Elska Ruan, who had to be at least 200 years old, in Ark's opinion and always smelled of cats and burnt coffee.

"Keep a dat racket down, you hooligan!" Her thick accent sputtered through toothless gums, and chapped lips.

Ark gave her a small sympathetic look, "I'm sorry, Miss. Ruan, just trying to clear my head. It won't happen again." Normally she wouldn't close the door on her so loving neighbor but she wanted to hear the boy's voice again. Slamming the door, she heard the woman curse in Chinese, or Japanese, or whatever-ese as she walked back to her room of lover-cats.

Ark rested her back against the door, tiredly sighing. She wiped the sweat and tears from her cheeks and then she realized she must've look like a fool in front of Miss Ruan. But she couldn't care less.

"Alright. Who are you?"

No answer. She gritted her teeth.

"You just talked to me." There was an eerie silence, she knew the ghost that held the voice was watching her, her senses keen to the feeling.

More silence. Ark grunted as she lifted herself from the door and walked over to the window and grabbed her beloved book, held it in her hands gently.

"You told me to leave, boy. Why?" Her own slight British accent leaking through every word.

Silence. Again.

Ark sighed, he obviously didn't want her to leave that bad. She sat on her window seat once again and opened her book to read.

"You're not safe here." The voice of the boy interrupted her reading.

"...No shit." She scoffed in sadness, she wasn't safe anywhere.

"Leave, Ark." The boy said just as the other voices of men and women filtered around her and she threw her book down in fright.

They had never sounded so loud, Ark's head ached within seconds.

She screamed and climbed from the window and over to her closet, pulling out her dark green bag pack. She started to pack the few clothes she owned and her most precious items.

"Hurry!" She heard the boy say and so she hurried. Ark didn't quite know why she was hurrying, but something about the fear in his voice struck a familiar chord within in her telling her danger was close.

Slipping her bag on her back, she grabbed her guitar, suitcase, and all the money she could find and her car keys and ran down the stairs and loaded her car.

Once Ark open the drivers door, she heard a large explosion implode over head.

Her eyes met the building and she saw the whole forth floor windows had busted out and vicious orange, red, and yellow flames curtled and she heard screams of terror from the occupants of that forth floor as they perished in the flames. The floor was gone in minutes. _Her _floor was gone in minutes.

The firetrucks came and the police came in hopes of trying to save those in the forth floor, but Ark knew that the occupants of forth floor wouldn't survive that. Miss Raun wouldn't survive.

But Ark survived, all because of that boy, who ever he was, he had saved her. She owed her life to this dead boy.

She looked at her apartment building once more and climbed into the driver's seat, and left.


	2. Extreme Ways

A Haunting in Connecticut story.  
_God's Away On Business_

Disclaimer: I do not and have not owned or stated I've owned anything involving the Haunting in Connecticut, and it shall stay that way. Even though I wish it didn't. I do not own the songs, "God's Away On Business" by the wonderful Tom Waits, or the song "Extreme Ways," by Moby - which the meaning of the song has a lot to do with Ark's current situation.

Chapter Two: Extreme Ways  
Rating: **T **for Teen.

* * *

Ark had no idea where she was to go, so she just took on the rodes as the came to her; careful not to take three lefts.

It was night now, but she kept driving. She wasn't going to stop until she found the place she needed to stay at. The boy had a motive behind his words, she knew that. He wanted her to leave, not only to save herself, but to leave to someplace unknown to Ark at the moment.

Morning couldn't have came faster and the afternoon soon rolled in, and she spotted a gas station. Ark really needed to pee and she was running low on gas, and some food wouldn't hurt.

Ark pulled up to a pump. Pump number 4. Stepping out, she saw a sign on the meter.

_'Pumps out slow, may take a while.'_

She sighed and inserted the nossle into the gas hole and walked up to the door. Her hand rapped around the handle, but she froze at her reflection in the glass.

Horrendous black circles under her eyes and her tanish skin had paled. Eye liner smeared over her eyes, she must've looked insane. Ark took her hand off the handle and used the glass as a mirror as she wiped the black from her eyes. When she was finally finished, she sighed at her result, but opened the door and walked in anyway.

Inside, she saw a fugly looking guy over by the beer section, a little boy and girl riffling through the candy isle, a motherly looking woman was flipping through a magazine and a boy that was Ark's age stood by her looking bored. Ark saw something familiar in the young man, but thought nothing of it as she grabbed a basket and walked over to grab a few drinks, and random food items that looked the least bit appetising.

Ark saw the children run out of the store in a hurry. She thought they were stealing some candy, but the cashier watched them too, and only gave them a strange look; so, obviously they hadn't.

She never minded it and continued looking at the chips. She was such a pig.

She saw the young man that she felt a weird familiarity with walking through the isles lazily.

Ark felt a sudden urge for sweets.

She made her way to the candy isle the children had ran away from and suddenly stopped in the middle of the isle and saw why they had ran out in such horror.

A little kid, maybe 3 or 4, sat cross-legged playing with his fingers, bending them frontwards and backwards not like any human should be able to. His clothes were ragged and covered in crimson liquid.

A ghost. A little boy, a child. Tears welled up in Ark's eyes as she felt his pain. How could such a young soul be stuck here?

Ark looked up and saw the young man that she'd felt a familiar pang with walked into the candy isle opposite of her and he too, stopped in mid step, staring at the little boy.

They both stood still for what seemed like hours, before Ark lifted her head to him and he lifted his to her as well.

She saw his pale skin and the circles under his eyes, and a red rash on his neck. He was sick. He had cancer from what Ark had inferred. But he could see them too, which meant he was about die.

Ark felt the sadness of another who could see the things that plauged this earth. She averted her eyes from his and looked at the candy, grabbing a pack of Sour Patch Kids, and looked at the nutrient label.

The guy walked past the little ghost boy and up to Ark's side.

She subtly tossed the pack into her basket and looked up at him with her tired eyes.

"You can see it too?" He looked over at the little boy, still playing with his sickly broken fingers.

Ark inhaled, "Yeah..."

The boy looked at her for a second in concentration. "Does it freak the fuck out of you as much as it does me?"

She laughed quietly at his outburst, and looked back at the candy in front of her.

"Not as much as it used t', they're everywhere."

The boy made a noise that sounded a bit like a sigh and a cough. A siough, Ark thought to herself. He ran his hands through his hair.

"I hate this so much." He said to himself. Ark looked at him, she felt sorry for him, he was obviously not used to seeing them, or feeling their pain, or hearing them as she was, which only meant that he wasn't as close to death as she was.

She put a hand on his shoulder and he looked into her eyes. "Hey, it gets easier after a while."

Okay, she lied, but he looked like he needed some good news in some way, shape, or form.

He nodded and had a sarcastic look on his face, "Yeah, I'm sure."

Ark laughed, she liked this guy.

Suddenly, the motherly woman she'd seen flipping through the magazine came up to the two.

"Hey, Matt, who's you're friend?"

He looked from the woman, to Ark, "Uhm..."

"Ark." She held her hand out to the woman who shook it lightly, "Ark Edison."

"Sara Campbell."

The guy, Matt, laughed slightly, "That's the coolest name I've ever heard."

Ark smiled, laughing slightly, "I try." She looked down at the little boy again, then looked out the window to see a car parked behind hers, waiting for the pump to be free.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, but I have to go, it was nice meeting you, Sara, Matt." She nodded towards them and was about to leave when Sara spoke up a little.

"You look like you could use a good home cooked meal, you want to come over for dinner tonight at our house?" Ark smirked, Sara made a comment towards her weight within a minute of meeting her, that was a new record.

"Tonight?" Sara nodded.

Ark looked up at the little boy and saw that he was looking up at her, electric blue eyes gave chills down her spine.

"Sure." She smiled. "What time?" She walked over to the register, sat her basket on the counter and looked over at Sara and Matt as the cashier added up her costs.

"Oh, when we get home, me and husband should start with dinner, so I guess you can just follow us to our house."

"Alright, just let me pull my car around and I'll follow you guys." Her total came to twenty ten with the gas and she walked out of the store, and towards her car.

* * *

Please Review, I was very excited to have so many responses to the first chapter.  
Also, I do recommend looking up the meaning to Extreme Ways by Moby, it has a lot to do with the situation at hand.

;D


	3. Wednesday

A Haunting in Connecticut story.  
_God's Away On Business_

Disclaimer: I do not and have not owned or stated I've owned anything involving the Haunting in Connecticut, and it shall stay that way. Even though I wish it didn't. I do not own the songs, "God's Away On Business" by the wonderful Tom Waits

* * *

Ark followed Sara and Matt for about six miles until she saw her volts-waggon-ish type car pull over to the side of the road. We're they having car troubles? Or maybe they took a wrong turn?

She slowed and parked on the side behind them just as Matt burst out of the back and ran a slight ways and puked a clear liquid.

Ark unbuckled her seat belt, "Shit." She grabbed her hanker chief and walk/ran over to Matt, thinking the whole way; it's fucking cancer, she knew it was cancer.

She heard Sara call after her as she approached Matt, but she ignored it. She grabbed Matt's arm slightly but he pushed her away, he was quite strong for a boy who's body was being eaten away.

"I'm fine, don't look at me, j-just-" He puked again and in instinct his hand shot up and he caught a bit of the slimy liquid in his palm.

"You stubborn child." Ark grabbed his arm again tighter, though it wasn't with much strength for Ark didn't have much left in her anyway, and she thrust the hanker chief towards him. He was hunched over so Ark hunched herself over next him.

"Thanks." He grabbed it wiping off his mouth and hands.

"Don't mention it, Matt." She smiled, though the muscles in her face didn't want to move. She ruffled his hair and helped him straighten up and walk back over to Sara and the car. Ark helped Matt into the car and he look in terrible pain.

Ark gave a sad smile to Matt, as Sara thanked her. She nodded her head, made a comment about how hungry she was, making Sara chuckle and Matt smile. Soon, they were both back on the road.

A few minutes into driving she heard a voice say her name. She shrieked in fright and could've sworn she saw something in the backseat.

"Ark..." She looked into the rear view mirror and saw a man, or what she thought was a man, sitting in the middle of the seats staring back at her with the electric blue eyes of the broken finger little boy. But this man was charred and his skin burned to bone.

She looked at the road again, pulling out of the other lane and into her own, she looked back and he was gone.

But that was him. She'd heard that voice not so long ago, that voice that saved her.

But not ten minutes later had they pulled over again for Matt to rid his stomach, and Ark once again helped him. Ark saw a look of distress on Sara's face and Ark's initial thought was that she really needed to get home and Matt couldn't make it without making several stops.

"We have about thirty more minutes to drive, Matt, honey do you think you can make it without any stops?" They both looked at Matt who suddenly turned around to throw up a little. Sara sighed. "I'll take that as a no."

"Matt can ride with me." Sara looked at Ark hopefully, but with a look of worry on her face, "I don' mind the stops, and I'm sure Matt knows the way to the house from 'ere. So you can get home faster and start dinner, after all, I am a hungry girl."

Sara smiled and hugged Ark in a motherly way, and said, "You're an angel, Ark." As she got into her car, she blew Matt a kiss who just rolled his eyes smirking, and him and Ark made their way to her car.

They both got in, and Ark started to drive down the road at a steady speed.

"I love your car."

Ark smirked, "She's a '67." Matt looked at the back seat and raised an eyebrow.

"Traveling somewhere?"

Ark got a nervous look on her face, "Uh, y-yeah, kinda."

"How can you 'kinda' travel?" Matt sat back in his seat, looking at her in humour.

"...I'm really jus' trying to find that place I belong, ya know...before I die." Matt nodded, looking out the window and up at the coulds.

"You expect that to be sometime soon?" Ark ran a hand through her hair, shrugging.

"Fifteen, sixteen weeks tops." Ark looked up at the sky herself from the wind shield.

Matt took this better than she expected, better than most people did. But he was going through pretty much the same thing, just at an earlier stage.

"What do you have?"

"Fatal Familial Insomnia." Matt nodded, obviously knowing the disease. "Fucking sucks balls."

Matt laughed, leaning back in his seat. He started coughing and reached over and grabbed Ark's arm, telling her to pull over.

They did this about three or four times, but in between Ark had told him a few of her experiences with the spirits and how she could feel what they felt("That's why I almost cried when I saw the little boy.") because she was barely hanging on by a thread. Matt had told her of the house his family vacated, about all the things he's seen and felt. Matt had mentioned that everyday that they'd been there he saw a kid with blue eyes.

Ark had paused for a moment, looking in the backseat from her rear view mirror quickly and saw nothing, "Were his eyes...bright, piercing blue?"

Matt nodded, "Yeah, yeah, have you seen him?"

"I don't know." She answered simply. But Matt left it at that and before long they finally pulled into the natural drive of the Campbell house.

Stepping onto the ground Ark felt an intense overwhelming feeling that made her fall against her car for support.

"Ark?!" Matt ran to her side. She started breathing heavily, closing her eyes tightly. "It's this house isn't it?"

Pain erupted through her body, but was gone as soon as it appeared, she opened her eyes and looked at Matt, nodding. "Let's just get inside, I'm sure your mother will be worried, about both our sakes."

She held onto Matt's sleeve for a little support as the made their way to the back where there was a man chasing two little kids.

"Hey, Matt." The man, Ark only assumed as Matt's father, smiled at them, "And this must be...Ark? Right?"

He held out his hand, "I'm Peter."

"A pleasure to meet you."

There was an awkward silence of a moment when Ark interrupted, "So, what's for dinner?"

Peter's eyes widened, "The burgers!" He ran over to the barbecue and opened the lid calming down the smoke.

Ark and Matt laughed as they both made into the house where Ark was introduced to Wendy, Matt's extremely attractive cousin, Mary, Matt's adorable little cousin, and Billy, Matt's 'manly' little brother. Once Ark had called him cute, he had told her he wasn't cute, he was a man.

Matt and Ark then made their way outside and sat on the steps, looking at the sky waiting for the burgers to be done.

They were both staring at the sky, enjoying the sunset for what it was worth.

"A man went to the doctor complaining of insomnia. The doctor gave him a thorough examination, found absolutely nothing physically wrong with him, and then told him, 'Listen, if you ever expect to cure your insomnia, you just have to stop taking your troubles to bed with you.' 'I know,' said the man, 'but I can't. My wife refuses to sleep alone.'"

Matt laughed, soon joined by Ark.

"Hey, what day is it, Matty?" Ark asked, earning a funny look.

"_'Matty'_?" He asked, and Ark only nodded, he laughed, "It's Wednesday."

"Hey, guys, dinner's on." Sara voice came from the kitchen.

Ark smiled, "Food!"

Matt and Ark ran into the dining room and sat down at the table. Ark sat, and waited as the family said their prayers. Wendy glanced up once and saw that Ark wasn't praying with them and gave her a questioning glance. Ark just shrugged and started to eat a delicious meal.

* * *

Terribly sorry it's been a while and it's a little short, but I should be writing more soon!  
Tell me how it was!

Colours.


	4. To Smell Connecticut in Sweet Hypocrisy

A Haunting in Connecticut story.  
_God's Away On Business_

Disclaimer: I do not and have not owned or stated I've owned anything involving the Haunting in Connecticut, and it shall stay that way. Even though I wish it didn't. I do not own the songs, "God's Away On Business" by the wonderful Tom Waits, or the song "Woe" by Say Anything.

**Author's Note: **This chapter does feature Jonah, but in a somewhat different mannor than everyone else betrays him as. After all, he is a teenager(or was) he's just dead, much like Ark.

Chapter Four: To Smell Connecticut in Sweet Hypocrisy.  
Rating: **T **

* * *

"Thank you so much for the dinner Sara, Peter, it was...amazing, I haven't had a home cooked meal in a long while." Ark hugged Sara and Peter, and Matt, lingering longer on his, she really did truly enjoy the dinner and the company of the family, it brought back happy memories of her and her family. "But, unfortunately, I must be leaving."

"Where are you headed Ark?" Wendy came up to the four at the door way.

"Anywhere, everywhere...a nice Holiday Inn I saw about twenty minutes away." Ark smiled meekly, somewhat not wanting to leave, yet a part of her told her to leave the house, not because of the Campbell's but because she did not feel safe here.

"Oh, you don't have to go and waste money on a crappy hotel room, when you can stay here." Sara smiled in that motherly way that she had when she first met her.

"Oh, rubbish, I couldn't impose, I'm used to staying in crappy hotel rooms, trust me I've had worse." And Ark was telling to truth, she had actually stayed in a nice tree once.

Matt stepped forward, "_Oh rubbish,_" he mocked laughing, "You're staying with us, I'll help you get your things out of your car, come on."

Ark rolled her eyes, but smiled, thanking Sara and Peter, and following Matt out into the semi-dark night.

Matt had grabbed her bag and set her suit case on the ground, he reached inside and grabbed her guitar and pulled that out too.

"You play guitar?" Matt gently stroked the fine woodwork without looking up, awaiting her answer, "Ark?" He looked up and what he saw made him drop the guitar.

Ark was standing about a yard away, her back facing him, and staring up into the eyes of the charred ghost that had haunted him so.

"Ark!" Matt ran up to her and pulled her away. He expected the ghost to disappear, but he just stood there, motionless.

Ark tore her eyes away from the ghost and grabbed her guitar and her backpack while Matt took her suitcase.

"Let's get inside, Matty." Ark added as she shut and locked her car door. Matt replied with a nod and walked next to her as they made their way to the front door.

Right before the steps Ark bumped into something on her left, only, Matt was on her right. She looked back quickly and would've sworn she saw normal pale skin and 1920s clothing attire on a young boy that looked around the same age as Matt and herself. But he had disappeared before she could prove what she thought she saw. But one thing she did realise before they entered the house, was that she had touched a ghost, and she had touched the one that saved her life.

* * *

Sara layed down a few sleeping bags in the living room, for they had no sofas or comfy chairs. She had been so worried about Ark's comfort for the night, Ark just about rung her neck, though she stopped herself; Sara was just like her mother and she loved that.

Matt had changed into his pajamas and stayed up with Ark for a little while, before he got so tired he nearly passed out. Ark helped him down the stairs to his basement bedroom and helped him into bed.

"Thank you Ark," he laughed a little, "You're an angel."

Ark smirked, her muscles tired, "Get some sleep Matty." She stood and walked towards the stairs when she saw a separate door and glass windows at the side of Matt's room. Her curiosity rose.

"Hey, Matt?"

He grunted tiredly in response. "What's that?"

Matt opened his eyes and saw where she was staring, "I don't know, I couldn't get the door open."

"Hmm..." She thought out loud, she was about to go over and try herself, but she didn't have near as much strength as Matt, and if he couldn't get it open, she definitely couldn't. "Maybe we could try to get it open tomorrow." Matt only nodded, pulling to covers over his shoulders, "...'night Matt."

"'Night Ark."

And she walked back up the stairs, holding the railing in a death grip, barely making it to her pallet on the floor in the living room.

She rolled over on her back and stared at the ceiling. It was a strange faded green color. She would have loved to see what it looked like when this beautiful Victorianwas first built. But Ark couldn't dismiss the thought that this house gave her a frightened feeling and smelled of dead bodies sometimes. A morgue, is what it reminded her of; after all she had grown up in one. The infrastructure and just the feeling of a funeral home crept inside her when she thought about it.

Ark lay there for several minutes, just pretending that nothing was real, no even her. She professed her belief that nothing was around her though she realizes that soon the walls and thick air would betray her in hypocrisy.

Sighing, Ark reached over to her bag and pulled out a blue tank top and short striped shorts/underwear. Tiptoeing through the halls, Ark made it to the bathroom on the second floor. Everybody was asleep, so she tried not to make too much noise. She opened the door slowly and flipped the light switch on.

The bathroom was rather large, reminded her a lot of a bathroom at the Dolphin Hotel in New York. The lights were mellow and weren't blinding, it was calming.

Ark sat her tank and underwear on the sink counter and slowly started to strip of her clothing. First, she took off her necklace and jeans, then her shirt. When she was down to her undergarments, Ark felt the air around her drop in temperature drastically, goosebumps appeared on her skin.

She heard quiet, but heavy breathing behind her. She was hesitant on turning around, but she did, slowly, only to see nothing. She let out a sigh, she hated ghosts and all their little mind tricks.

Quickly glancing around the room she disposed of her bra and underwear and stepped into a hot shower.

As she cleaned herself she couldn't help but see a silhouette of a man's broad shoulders through the shower curtain, though, he was not watching her. His back was towards her, and he stood completely still, as if guarding her from something, whatever that may be. Ark didn't feel threatened at all, in fact, this was the safest she'd felt in this house yet.

She let the water hit her face and damp her hair. The soothing the shower and protection made Ark happy and unafraid. About halfway through her shower, she started to hum quietly a song her father used to sing to her.

Ark spent about ten more minutes in the shower, though she wanted to stay in, her fingers were starting to wrinkle like prunes. She shut off the water, still humming and pulled a towel around her skinny frame.

The shadow was still there behind the curtain, and Ark was somewhat afraid to see who, or what it was. But as they always say, curiosity kills the cat.

There, as Ark pulled the shower curtain stood a man with the height of 5'10" about a foot in front of her. She stopped her humming, and stepped out of the tub and stood behind the man. Ark slowly etched forward and around the man to see his face and what she saw made her dumbfounded.

A young man of pale skin -really pale skin- and long brown hair cascading down to his shocking blue eyes.

This was him. This was the one that saved her. But she wondered why she'd seen him in two different forms. He kept his gaze to the corner of the room, a hard gaze that brought chills to Ark's spine. She followed his gaze and saw a hideous man standing in the corner rapped in rags and had tribal prayers cut into his skin everywhere the eyes could see.

Ark had seen these marks before, though she couldn't recall what they were used for exactly.

She looked at his face, his eyelids were cut off. Eyes widening, she said to herself quietly, "Necromancy..."

The man nodded, still keeping his eyes on the ghost in the corner. Ark kept completely still, though her eyes went from the corner ghost, to the mysterious ghost in front of her. While she was looking at him, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye.

The ghost was walking over to them, but in her general direction. The man in front of her reached his arm out in a flash and pulled her behind him protectively. When he pulled her, his hand felt so cold on her flesh, it stung.

The corner ghost was standing in front of them, staring eye to eye with her protector. Then she heard gurgling that she only expected to come from the necromanced spirit.

"Stay away from her." She heard the man say firmly. What did they want with her? She thought.

She heard more disgusting gurgling and a grunt, then silence filled the air. After a moment, Ark poked her head from behind her protector and saw nothing. Ark looked up to his face, and his eyes scanned the bathroom attentively, as though he expected there to be more hideous ghosts. Though there were none Ark's trained eye could see. After looking around the room, her eyes met her protectors.

And they stood like that for a minute, though it seemed like an hour, before Ark finally spoke.

"Thank you." She told him quietly, never breaking the gaze.

He nodded solemnly, biting his lip. The silence between them was anything but awkward as Ark looked into his eyes. Ark lifted her hand up to trace the side of his face and what she felt was warmth. As surprised as she was, all she did was smile.

"What's your name?" She asked quietly. He smirked slightly and cupped his hand over hers and bent down to whisper in her ear.

"Jonah..." His voice was comforting and brought chills to her at the same time. Her breath caught in her throat and he straightened back up, standing extremely close to her.

"Jonah..." She repeated, daze in her voice.

He reached over to the sink and grabbed her tank top and underwear and handed them to her.

Ark grabbed them and Jonah turned around. What a gentleman, she thought.

Dropping the towel she slipped on her little shorts and pulled her tank top over her head.

"...My name is Ark.." She said quietly, walking over to the door but watching Jonah's movements.

He looked over at her and walked up next to her and opened the door for her, smiling that same smirk.

They both walked side-by-side in silence to the living room and Ark sat down cross-legged, beckoning him to do the same. Once he sat down in front of her, she took his entire person into view.

He was wearing a grey-ish over jacket and a brown shirt and tie underneath, dark brown pants that seemed a tad on the short side and dark brown dress shoes.

Wow, kind of depressing to be suck in that outfit forever, Ark thought to herself stupidly. She noticed Jonah was looking at her intently.

"You don't have much time left, do you?" He questioned in his soft voice. Ark lowered her eyes, shook her head.

"No...not much time at all, I'm surprised I'm still able to walk." She said sadly, playing with her fingers.

"I'm sorry.." Jonah said in as much sadness as herself. But Ark didn't quite understand why he was sorry.

"Why are you sorry?"

"I'm sorry that you are suffering. That you are in pain." Jonah said sincerely. Ark nodded weakly.

"It should be over soon." Her eyes started to water just thinking about it, but Jonah reached his had out and lifted her head up.

"If there is a God, he's the most horrible being for making you go through this."

"...I lost all faith in God a long time ago, I've been like this for so long, I don't even know what's real anymore...It's like I'm just a small animal cowering in my own self pity, just...lingering. Lingering...lingering...lingering..." Ark breathed in and out slowly, her tiny ribs beginning to feel pressure build up.

Jonah's face held an expression she couldn't understand. Ark had wondered what had happened to him to be trapped in this area, and how he had such control over that necromanced ghost. But she kept silent, afraid to talk. But Jonah still watched her, infatuated by her very figure.

"What's it like?" Ark asked quietly, he gave her a questioning look, "Dying. What's it like?"

Jonah thought about it for a moment. "I guess it all really depends on how it happens. But dying at old age seems the easiest and most painless way to die. But how I died, wasn't the easiest and most painless way, it was...horrible."

Ark looked around the room, she knew that the form she'd first seen him in, the charred and burnt, it had to of involved something with fire. But Ark only nodded, sensing that he didn't want to talk about it much.

Ark had mentioned his clothes and he stated that he was born in 1906, and that he was 17 at the time of his death. The same age as her.

They moved to talk on many different subjects, but one they had talked out for hours was about Narnia. Jonah said he knew that she loved the books and he had read them as a child himself.

But as the sun started to rise, Jonah was quiet for a moment. He reached over and tried to touch Ark's shoulder, but his hand went straight through. Ark looked up and into his eyes as his beautiful appearance turned black and ridged in ash, but his eyes had stayed the same as she never broke the stare.

Jonah looked so broken in this form, it pained Ark to see him like this, though she knew he had used much strength to appear the way he did and used an ungodly amount of energy to touch her. He was weak at the moment and she knew that, understood that.

Not another word was said as Jonah stood and disappeared into the wall. Ark still sat there, in completely silence.

She felt lonely without Jonah by her side, felt scared without his words comforting her. This house scared her, Jonah had told her that there were many more of the necromanced ghosts and for some reason they were trying to get to her and Matt. But he said he would watch over her, and make sure that the demented ghosts did nothing to harm her. And she had trusted him.

But then, Ark took realization in what had just taken place. She talked to a ghost like he was her best friend. She connected to a thing that had tormented her for the past three years.

It was weird, Ark knew that, but she needed a comfort in her little time left. She wondered if Matt had ever talked to Jonah the way she did. She didn't expect Jonah to expose his real appearance to Matt, so he'd probably only seen Jonah's appearance after death. Ark wondered why Jonah showed her his normal form, but decided not to worry over it as she stood and made her way into the kitchen to get a glass of, something drinkable.

When Ark's bare feet touched the cool tile, goosebumps rose all through her body. She opened the refrigerator and pulled out the jug of orange juice.

As she pored the thick orange liquid into the cup she heard movement coming from the basement, and Ark jumped as she turned around, dropping the jug of orange juice on the floor.

* * *

Cliff hanger! Bahahaha ;)  
But this was a long chapter, you'll survive. But thanks for reading, and let me know what you think of it!


	5. Abrupt and Filling

Same as always, just too lazy to put it :P

A Haunting in Connecticut story.  
_God's Away On Business_

Chapter five: Abrupt and Filling

* * *

As she watched the jug of orange juice stop in mid air and float back to the counter, she turned around quickly to see Matt climbing up the steps yawning and rubbing his neck.

He spotted her and stopped, "What are you doing u-...oh, yeah."

Ark laughed, "Orange juice?" Matt nodded his head and she filled a glass for him, her hands shaking a bit.

They both sat on the counter and drank their beverages over a nice little morning chat.

"So what did you do all night?" Matt asked her tiredly.

Ark paused for a moment, but decided not to tell Matt about Jonah just yet.

"I took a nice long shower, which was like...the best thing ever." Matt chuckled at her goofy tone, "and I explored a little bit around the house too."

Matt nodded, "And how'd that go for you?"

Ark shook her head a bit, "It was alright, this really is a beautiful house, though I can't help but get the feeling that this isn't a normal house."

Matt nodded, "You've seen them haven't you?" Ark looked down, nodding.

"Have you seen them Matty?" He smirked at the nickname, but it soon left his face.

"Only in nightmares. But I bet you've seen them on a more extensive level." Ark nodded again, still looking at the floor.

"Hey, let's go down to that room of yours and see what's behind that mysterious door." Ark grabbed his upper arm and Matt had look a little hesitant but went down with her.

Once they got down the stairs, Ark noticed that Matt actually too no notice to her being in only panties and a tank top. Hmm, she wondered, must be a nice guy after all.

She and Matt walked up to one of the windows and the cupped their hands over their eyes to get a better chance at seeing what was inside.

But the windows were too blurry to see anything. Ark walked over to the door handle and tried to opened it a little, but the door didn't budge. She rattled the handle, and tried to loosen the lock, but nothing happened.

"Damn.." She muttered, leaning all her weight on the door, still trying. And through this all, Matt just leaned against the window, smirking as Ark tried her hardest to open the un-openable door.

"Are you just gonna watch me, or are you gonna help?" Matt laughed his little laugh and helped Ark try to open the door. But in the end, they had no advil. Both sighed, then sat down on Matt's bed and talked for a bit when Sara came down to greet them.

"Morning honey," she said to Matt, "And, good morning Ark, I suppose you had a good night?"

Ark nodded slightly, "Of course, it was such a pleasure staying in this beautiful house."

Sara smiled and nodded, looking around the basement, "Yes, it is, isn't it?" Ark smiled and looked at Matt who just sat in silence, she wondered why he was so quiet.

"Matt, honey, we need to go to the doctors today." _Oh, that's why..._Ark thought to herself.

Matt stood and walked over to his dresser, pulling out some clothes. Ark turn around so he could get dressed comfortably, and looked at Sara.

"Can I come?"

Matt stood in place with his shirt half way over his head and one arm in, one arm out, and Sara looked at Ark in a questionable manner.

"Well, I don't see why not." Ark smiled and stood up. She looked over at Matt who had a grin on his face and he slipped his shirt over his head.

"I'll go get dressed then." And she made her way to the stairs. Half way up she looked up and saw a silhouette in the door way.

"Jonah?" She whispered, standing still. And the shadow stood still as well. This wasn't Jonah, Ark knew that. The figure advanced on her and she started to step back down the steps when she felt a force go through her body and through to the top of the steps and everything disappeared.

Ark stood for a moment, staring into space. But Ark pulled herself out of her trance and rushed up the stairs and into the living room.

Ark sat in the back seat with Matt and they talk about little nothings on the way to the hospital. It was somewhat hot outside, it being June, so Ark had put on relatively short shorts, and a red and black checkered flannel shirt, because she often got cold chills, and black flip flops.

Sara glanced in the back seat every so often and smiled at the friendship that had formed between the two so quickly and so easily. She was glad that Matt actually had someone to talk to other than Wendy and the kids, but even more glad that he could talk to someone who understood what he was going through. As much as Sara hated to admit it, she knew Matt was close to death, and it pained her to see him in pain. It pulled at her heart strings to see him weak and vulnerable.

She stopped herself from tearing up as she pulled into the patient parking space in the hospital and the three of them walked into the entrance.

The nurses wheeled Matt towards the radiation room and he held Ark's hand until they entered the room in which Ark couldn't follow, no matter how hard she tried.

She and Sara sat in the waiting room.

"So Ark, where are you from?"

She smiled, "Well, originally, I'm from England, if you haven't figured it out yet." Sara laughed, "But me and my parents moved to Washington when I was five and I grew up there."

Sara nodded, "You're parents did a fine job in raising you." Ark smiled slightly, thinking of her parents.

"What-what exactly happened to them? If you don't want to answer, that's perfectly fine, I understand."

"No, no, it's alright...My parents were supposedly killed in a car wreck on some..highway, or somethin'. They owned a funeral home, and it was supposed to be pasted down to my name, but I didn't want to have anything to do with it. Their death just...hit home...hit home, extremely hard." Sara gave a mother grin and enveloped Ark in a warm hug.

"That must've been so hard for you, loosing both your parents at such a young age. And also dealing with a sickness...I can't imagine the pain you must have gone through." Ark was silent for a moment.

"I guess it's made me stronger, mentally, that is." She lied, but Sara didn't know she was lying. She couldn't tell her that once she became sick she saw ghosts and she had a theory that the ghosts were the things that killed her parents.

They soon spirited off into different conversations, Sara told her stories of Matt when he was a child, some embarrassing and some were the sweetest things she'd ever heard.

Soon enough, Ark and Sara were called into Matt's doctor's office.

* * *

this seems like a filler, but its not.

review please, and i would absolutely love a critique.


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